A journey through cancer

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Packing for hospital: a capsule wardrobe

A key part of S/S 15 Cancer Chic: the Caroline Crimson Hospital Bag. Very different to, for example, the Dior Saddle Bag, or the Hermes Birkin Bag. Having said that, a designer hospital bag would certainly not look out of place at the Royal Marsden – and if you really wanted, you could always pop out into Chelsea and pick one up.

For those of you dying to know, my actual choice of hospital bag was a fabulously floral Cath Kidston foldaway overnight bag. Because that was a reasonable size bag I already had, and I could use the small pouch for toiletries. Sadly, through overstuffing it with the items below I have managed to pop the zip on both the bag and the pouch, so perhaps it’s time to treat myself to a new one!

The remnants of my hospital bag

The real crux of it all though, of course, is the contents of the bag. If you google “hospital bag”, you will be presented with approximately 24 million results, and I bet that the vast majority of them are maternity related. Not that I think there’s anything wrong with that, but rather that when having a baby, being prepared with a bag full of stuff to take to hospital is A Priority. Because when you stay in hospital, you need various things. When you are having a baby, you are expecting that. When you are told out of the blue that you have cancer and are bundled through various appointments and into an operating theatre before you’ve got time to say “floral overnight bag”, thinking about what to take with you isn’t at the top of the list.

However. There’s a reason that packing a bag is such a key preparation for having a baby. I was very lucky to have a close friend who, as a doctor, is well-versed in all things medical and brought me all sorts of things for my hospital bag. When she first mentioned it, it hadn’t even crossed my mind, but every single thing she brought me came into its own during my stay in Ellis Ward. For those people facing this without such expert intervention, I hope this list will be helpful.

I was told that I would probably be in hospital for a couple of days following my Radical Trachelectomy so the list above might seem like overkill. However, I ended up being there for six days in the end, and everything I had did come in handy. There’s something singularly unpleasant about wanting to brush your teeth and not having any toothpaste, for example. All of the things above helped make me feel much more human during a really difficult time.

There you have it – a capsule wardrobe, including capsules, in a capsule! Now, about that new bag…